Bernard Vickers (pictured) has certainly given new meaning to the word hero.

Vickers, who is employed as a barista at a Starbucks in midtown Manhattan, was at work around 6:30 a.m. Monday morning when he heard an explosion. An unidentified New York City cabbie and a passenger had been driving along when a manhole exploded underneath their vehicle, according to DNAinfo New York.

The Central Harlem resident told DNAinfo, “As the cab was going over the transformer, the transformer exploded. It was pretty loud, just a giant boom.”

The 23-year-old man witnessed the cabbie and passenger struggling to get out of the vehicle but their efforts were useless. Not taking his own safety into consideration, Vickers, quickly ran over to the scene of the accident to offer some assistance to the apparently panic-stricken victims. The doors would not budge open, according to Vickers. So he had to think on his feet, telling DNAinfo, “I pulled the driver out the driver-side window and helped the passenger get out of the sunroof.”

The driver and his passenger were transported to a nearby hospital and treated for minor injuries.

Vickers told DNAinfo that his reaction to the accident was just second nature, “I just reacted like anyone else would’ve,” he said. “It was some way to start off the week.”

Meanwhile Con Edison told CBS 2 that a problem with an underground electrical cable may have caused the blast and that a crew of servicemen will begin work to repair the damage on Tuesday.